Known computer systems have typically been comprised of a central processor having internal and external memory storage and a plurality of input and output peripherals such as card and tape readers, keyboards, printers, punches, display panels, etc., the central processor and peripherals being arranged in the site area in predetermined configuration and interconnected by cables, pipes, air ducts, and the like for the purpose of powering and coordinating the various units and maintaining each unit at its required operating temperature. To accommodate the required interconnections between the various hardware units of the computer system, and to effectuate the routing of such interconnections away from the traffic patterns that might be used by persons responsible for attending the system, computer site areas have generally been provided with raised flooring structures disposed a predetermined distance above the permanent flooring, the space between the raised and permanent floorings being utilized for channeling and routing the various required interconnections.
As a consequence of the practice of providing computer sites with raised flooring, a variety of elevated flooring structures have been developed and disclosed in the prior art, including adjustable elevating supports or pedestals, variously formed and dimensioned surface panels, and a variety of grid-like super-structures for positioning the surface panels relative to the pedestals. As an example of the structures provided by the prior art, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,681,882 and 3,811,237 to Bettinger teach the use of edge-carpeted rectangular panels adhesively supported by grid-like metallic stringers that are positioned a predetermined distance above the permanent flooring by a plurality of equally spaced apart adjustable metallic pedestals, the edge-carpeting of the panels serving to seal the space between adjoining panels against air leakage and to reduce the criticality of slight variations in the size and configuration of the panels themselves. As a further example of the raised flooring structures provided by the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,928 to Raith teaches the use of non-adjustable elevating supports fixed to the corners of each of a plurality of rectangular panels, the panels being diagonally split and hinged to thereby provide a self-adjusting characteristic to each individual panel, the sum total of the panels being carpeted to hold the panels to inter-abutting relationship.
A hereinafter described characteristic of known elevated flooring structures has evolved from the practice of placing the various hardware units comprising a computer system in appropriate interrelationship on top of the elevated flooring structure, and of thereafter channeling and routing the electrical and cooling interconnections between the units in the space between the elevated flooring and the permanent flooring. Since, to be viable, a raised flooring structure for a computer system must lend itself to subsequent modification and upgrading as peripherals are substituted and added, it has been deemed advisable to build flooring structures of the type disclosed in the prior art of uniform strength and rigidity throughout the site area, and thus to provide such known structures with the trait of being sufficiently strong to support the weight of the hardware units, and of greater strength and rigidity than would be required to serve as a platform for those having responsibility for attending the system. This common trait of known raised flooring structures highlights two significant disadvantages that tend to characterize all such known structures, namely the excessive cost that is incurred in their initial manufacture and installation, and the difficulty and expense that is encountered in system upgrading when it becomes necessary to relocate the hardware units on the raised flooring structure, and to thereafter remove the remaining panels of the structure for the purpose of re-routing and re-channeling the electrical and cooling interconnections in the space between the raised flooring and the permanent flooring.
Whereas contemplated changes in the design and architecture of future generation computer systems are likely to have an ancillary effect on the nature and extent of the interconnections between the hardware units, by reason of such innovations as denser packaging and modified cooling techniques, the increased peripheral capacity of such systems is expected to accentuate rather than to diminish the need of elevated flooring structures, if for no other reason than to accommodate the channeling and routing of the increased number of cable interconnections that will be required by the increased peripheral capacity. Future innovations in computer design are accordngly expected to further highlight the need of inexpensive and readily re-arrangeable raised flooring structures for use in computer site areas.